Down The Rabbit Hole
by Leeta
Summary: Kidnapers are on the lose and things all go horribly wrong when Kotetsu tries to come clean during an argument with Barnaby, who gets kidnapped. Now its up to Kotetsu to make things right and save his partner, before powers fade away completely.
1. Chapter 1

**Down The Rabbit Hole**

"What the hell were you thinking? " yelled a certain blond that was known to not really care for Kotetsu foolishness. "How could you just let them get away like that?" The two had been out on Hero TV, working together on catching a group of NEXT Kidnappers. The two had almost captured them when Kotetsu had decided to pull his normal stunt of pretending to suddenly lose his powers and run into a beam. A beam that just happened to take down an already unstable building which just so happened to come crumbling down on them and allow the criminals to escape. Luckily, they had escaped with minor bumps and bruises. Kotetsu flinched at the words and gave a nervous smile, "Na, Bunny-chan I couldn't help it cause well…." Kotetsu drawled out as he looked else where, trying to decide how best to continue

"Cause what?" Barnaby crossed his arms over his chest, looking less then pleased with his partner. This was becoming a common occurrence. At first he thought it was sweet of Kotetsu to be giving Barnaby all the points and to the other Hero's that needed them as well to stay in the game. But now, it was becoming a hindrance and one that needed to be put to a stop. Right now. Kotetsu lifted his infamous hat from his dark head and scratched at it in thought. He was going to have to tell Barnaby the truth, but would his partner listen to him? He wasn't sure he would, especially when his partner was rather irritated. "I um, well, you see. Bunny, I um…I think I reached my limit." There, he said it.

"What do you mean, you've reached your limit?" Came the calm voice of a disgruntled bunny who was getting to the point of picking his skinny ass up and walking right out the door. It sure as hell wouldn't be the first time he got up and left, he was certain it wouldn't be the last either. "I think…um, I just started to day dream!." The damn tiger was just messing with him like always. Barnaby adjusted his glasses as he stared at the older hero who sat across from him at the small table in the training room.

"Day dream? Old man, you are fucking with me and I don't appreciate it. Why don't you tell me the truth or have you just lost all sense?" Barnaby raised his right hand and tapped his temple, making his point very clearly of what he thought of the situation. Kotetsu stared at him long and hard with a shake of his head. As much as he hated to be series and sucked at dealing with conflicts, he was trying his best to get to the heart of the matter. "You don't understand, Bunny."

Barnaby rolled his eyes at his partner. The man always made some kind of wild excuse to get out of mischief. Now, he trusted his partner but this was just too much, why couldn't the Old man tell him anything? Growling in irritation, Bunny slammed his hands on the table and started out of the room. "B-Bunny!" Kotetsu stood up with a look of desperation, his heart was pulling him in two different directions. He could tell Bunny everything or pretend as if nothing was wrong no matter if his partner deserved to know the truth. It was too hard to say and Kotetsu wasn't sure if he even believed it…he was losing his powers and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

He opened his mouth to speak, however Barnaby lifted a hand to silence the older male. "You know what, no. Don't even bother saying a word until you think you can tell me what is really going on here." with that said, Barnaby left and went into the locker room fuming. As he changed his clothing he cursed under his breath, slamming the locker. Tossing his jacket over his shoulder, he stomped out of the building. What in the hell was wrong with Kotetsu? Why couldn't he trust him enough to tell him what was really going on? Granted, Bunny had a few ideas on what could be wrong with his partner but he wasn't going to believe any until Kotetsu spilled the beans.

If he ever would, at this rate Barnaby was going to become an old man. Barnaby let out a sigh, he just needed to go home and take a hot shower and recover from todays life of hell. The blond stopped a few feet from the building and looked towards the parking garage. A sudden thought hit him as he put his hand into a pocket. Shit, he forgot his keys! He must of left them in the building. Green eyes went towards the building he had came from. He could either go in there and drive home or not go in there and deal with Kotetsu and merely walk home.

Walking it was then! Shaking his blond curls he started down the road at an easy pace. He lived a good five miles from here so it would take him sometime to get home. Well, at least he could walk off his frustrations, the only bad thing was it was getting dark and fast. He wouldn't get home until…well, he looked down at his watch, it was around nine forty-five, so that means he wouldn't get until about ten thirty, give or take a few minutes.

Ten minutes into his walk and not a living soul past by him, hell not even a car went by and that was a bit unusual. Yet, it made no differences to Barnaby Brooks Jr. nor did the silent walk, in fact he found it rather refreshing. Well, until he felt a sudden drop hit his nose. "What the…" Confused, he looked up into the sky and frowned deeply. Dark clouds had rolled into the already darken sky and hid the moon away from sight.

Another drop of water hit him on the cheek followed by two more drops and then it just came down. "Ah, shit. Really?" He exhaled, so much for a relaxing walk! Groaning, he took his red and white coat and placed it over his head and quickened his pace until a van pulled up beside him. He didn't hear it nor did he see it until a window rolled down. "Excuse me." said a voice with a cheerful face barely seen from the poor lighting of the street lamp. "Sir, do you know where Maple Street is?"

Barnaby, being a good citizen that he was stopped and looked at the man with a raised brow, though didn't move a muscle. "Maple Street?" He couldn't recall ever seeing a street named that in this area before at all. "Yeah, Maple Street. I got a delivery to make and I am already a few hours behind." Said the man as he held up a laminated map and pointed to it, "Think you could help me out buddy? I would sure appreciate it."

The blond looked from the map, the sky, then to the man a few times before sighing. He placed a small smile on his face and approached the van. "I suppose so." Not like getting wetter would make much of a difference at this point. Barnaby came up to the window and peered at the map. "Well," He said as his eyes scanned the road ways on the map. "Hmm…"

Slowly, a figure slipped out from behind the van and rounded the van carefully. The figure peered out from around the automobile and looked at the blond giving directions. A wicked smile touched the persons face as Barnaby had his back to the person. "I think if you go back to 2nd Street, you might be able to find Maple. But, I don't see it on the map. Are you sure it-wait a minute." Barnaby looked up into the face of the man with narrowed eyes. Wasn't he the same man he and Kotetsu had been trying to capture earlier today?

A hand suddenly clamped over Barnaby's face, Startled suddenly the blond jerked his elbow up to nail the man in the ribs. But for some reason, he couldn't focus very well, it was then he noticed the man had a rag in his hand with an liquid on it. _"Chloroform?"_ Oh shit, summoning his own Hundred Power did nothing for him, as soon as he activated it his eyes rolled back in his head. The figure caught Barnaby as he became unconscious and laughed a little. "Well now, seems we got ourselves a pretty little thing."

"Throw him in the back before someone sees us but take care with that one, seems he's a NEXT." The figure smiled, "No worries Boss, we got just the thing for NEXT's."

**[X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X]**

Kotetsu frowned as he lowered the his ringing phone from his ear, odd, Bunny wasn't picking up his phone. Was Bunny still mad at him for today's events? Surely not! Normally, Barnaby would answer his phone no matter what. "Bunny-chan…" Kotetsu said softly, staring into his phone as if his partner would suddenly appear out of it.

Wow, this is my first fanfic in years XD I hope it didn't stink too bad...so trying to get back into writing. Plus, I got tired of seeing Kotetsu getting all the crap and getting hurt. I think its about time Kotetsu is a hero and Bunny is the one getting into trouble! Call me insane, but its true!


	2. Chapter 2  Missing Bunny

**Down The Rabbit Hole  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 - Missing Bunny<strong>

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><p>"Blue Rose has captured the criminal!" sounded the announcement voice on HERO TV, "That will really help out Blue Rose gather some new points. However, everyone has the same question in mind, where is Barnaby?"<p>

Where indeed, Kotetsu wondered the same thing while turning off the large television at HERO TV main office. He sighed softly as he leaned back against the sofa, turning his head idly to the left, he gazed down at his cell phone that rested in his hand. Flipping it open he hit the quick dial on his phone and watched the screen. Within moments he reached Bunny's voice mail for the fifteenth time. "Maybe I really pissed him off this time." He muttered to himself softly. Leaning his head back once again he closed his eyes, brought the phone up to his lips and said in the most whiny voice he possibly could. "Bunny-chan, I'm sorry for making you mad but please answer your phone! Agnes is gonna kill me if you-"

"Kotetsu!" came an angry voice from behind him. The poor old man almost jumped out of his skin as he slammed his phone closed and looked up into the angry face of none other then Agnes Joubert. He offered her the sweetest smile he could muster but it just came off as a scared old man look. "Ah, Agnes! Hi, how are you doing today? Did anyone tell you how fabulous you look today? Ah…ha…ha…" Oh god he was going to die a horrible, horrible death in three seconds wasn't he? You see Agnes had a nasty habit of being a very frightening women at times.

Agnes just stared down at Kotetsu, hands on her hips and eyes sending fire and brim stone upon him, her lips where sat in a very firm and straight line. Yep, she was meaning business and going to kick ass as well as probably take names. After all, she needed something to put on the tombstones of her victims. "What have you done this time to piss off Barnaby? Eh?" Demanded the long haired woman.

Kotetsu just sorta sat there for a moment and waved a hand into the air, "Oh, ah. Nothing, we just got into a little argument is all. I'm sure he will show up soon, I mean he will show up if you call him or if Mr. Maverick calls-" Agnes shut him up quickly with a sharp glare as she cut off his sentence mid way, "Mr. Maverick has been calling him since six this morning. Barnaby hasn't answered the phone nor has he returned Mr. Mavericks phone calls."

"What?"

"You heard me, Kotetsu. He hasn't been answering anyone's phone calls at all and seeing as you caused this huge problem of making Barnaby ignore everyone and their mother, I suspect you better go down to his apartment and fix the issue!" Bending down, the woman jabbed her well extremely sharp and pointed nail into the older mans chest. Tiger, suddenly feeling as if he might be skinned alive moved off the sofa as if God had smacked him upside the head. Putting his hands out in front of himself in a defensive manner. "Okay, I'll go see what's up with Bunny. Really, I'm sure its nothing…you know how he gets."

Agnes looked less then impressed, "It better be nothing."

**[X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X]**

Kotetsu let his head hit the stirring wheel of his car as he sat there at a stop light. God, why must his life be so difficult, honestly. Couldn't Barnaby just answer his phone and let someone know everything was just fine? Apparently, it was too hard to do that but this was normal Bunny behavior. Get ticked off at the Old Man and ignore everyone until things settled down. However, it was odd that he wasn't answering the phone for Maverick. Barnaby had always answered the phone for him if no one else. What could be bugging the blond so much to ignore Maverick? Surely, it wasn't just because Kotetsu had opened his big fat mouth and didn't come clean with the truth…was it?

Kotetsu started back tracking on the most recent events with him and his partner and could come up with nothing else other then him losing criminals. At first, Bunny didn't seem to mind it and find the actions kinda sweet and then slowly it just started to get at the blond. They where losing points and then the whole ordeal with him finding out that he had the wrong man marked as his killer. This week was just one thing after another it seemed like.

"Oi, Kotetsu." Brown eyes moved to settle upon the stylish and overly flamboyant man in his car. He wasn't sure why Nathan had decided to come along but he did. Well, take that back, the old man had a very good idea why he was here, Agnes more then likely told Nathan to go with him so he didn't fuck anything up. What a wonderful bitch-erm woman she was! Dully Kotetsu answered the other hero, "Hm?"

"Light's green."

"Eh?" Kotetsu looked up right as three people decided to honk at him. Smiling sheepishly, he pulled forward at and easy pace. "Geez, you need to start paying more attention."

"Sorry, I got lost in thought." Kotetsu shrugged his shoulders as he took a right turn. "Anyways, thanks for coming along though I'm pretty sure Agnes was going to hang you by your toes if you hadn't." Nathan looked over at Tiger and shrugged his thin shoulders, "Well, some has to make sure you don't screw this up. I mean really, if you can't get Handsome to come out then surely my wonderful looks and voice will bring him out." Nathan clasped his hands together joyfully as Tiger gave him a nervous look. "Yeah, I'm sure it will do something." Like make Bunny jump out a window.

Tiger rounded another corner before finally coming up to the apartment complex Barnaby was currently living at. Parking his green vehicle in the first parking spot he saw, he came out of the car and stretched. "Alright, let's see if we can pull a bunny out of the hat." He mused at his joke while Nathan rolled his eyes.

Getting the complex was easy enough and luckily no one stopped them. Moving down the hallway Nathan looked to his left and then his right as he brought a hand to his chin. "My, so this is where Barnaby lives." To Kotetsu, Fire Emblem looked far too happy about knowing where Barnaby was currently living at. Adjusting his trademark hat, he came to a door and placed his weigh ton his right leg. Hand in pocket, he raised the other and knocked on the door carefully. "Oi, Bunny." He called out and waited. No one came to the door and not even a sound came from the room. The two hero's looked at one another with concern. Kotetsu knocked again but there was no answer. Nathan pushed Kotetsu aside, "Well, apparently he doesn't want to see you." Nathan turned towards the door and gave it a good delicate rapping. "Barnaby, won't you open up? Please?" Again no answer.

They took turns knocking back and forth for a few minutes before Kotetsu patience finally came to an end. "Oi, Bunny, if you don't answer this door then I am coming in!" No respond. Growling under his breath about his partner being so childish at times he pulled out a credit card and bent down to fiddle with the lock. Nathan on the other hand tilted his head as he watched the older hero jimmy the lock. "Um, Kotetsu." Nathan said slowly but Kotetsu waved him away. "Hold on I almost got it."

Nathan shook his head with a small smile as he dug into the inner part of his coat and pulled out a silver key. He then promptly dangled it in front of the older hero. "Agnes gave me a key, in case this sorta of thing happened." Kotetsu blinked a bit as he looked at the key and pouted. Well, that just took the fun out of this little mission. "Oh…" Taking the key as he stood, he unlocked the door and entered the room with Nathan.

The lights where off in the apartment, "Hey, Bunny." Kotetsu called out again as he flicked the lights on, expecting his partner to be resting on the only chair he owned. He was shocked to see that Barnaby was not there, perplexed he turned to Nathan. "That's odd. He's normally in that chair asleep or working…"

"I don't hear the shower going…" Nathan noticed as he drifted off towards the bathroom and bedroom. "Barnaby?" He asked as he peered into the room. Kotetsu made his way towards the lone chair and gazed down at the computer. It hadn't even been turned on, "He's bed is still made."

"What?"

"His bed, he hasn't slept in it and it looks like he hasn't been home either." Nathan looked concerned as he glanced around the room, trying to find some traces of the blond. Kotetsu said nothing as he thought long and hard about the situation. Moving away from the window he came to rest against the large glass window and bowed his head in thought. How odd, he was certain that Barnaby would be here…where else would he have gone too? Mr. Maverick hadn't heard from him and then there was Samantha. But he didn't have the elder women's number and so he had no way of calling her to see if she had seen his blond partner.

Then something caught his attention, out of the corner of his eye he had spotted movement outside. Turning his head, he caught site of a red and white jacket, one that he knew very well. Without a word, he took off in a dead run from his current position, taking Nathan by surprise who called after him and soon followed. Kotetsu flew down the stairs rather then taking the elevator, he had to be quick to catch that damn bunny before he took off or something.

Jumping off the last four stairs, the dark haired man landed squarely on his feet, turned on his heels and burst out the main doors, scaring a few girls. Offering a quick apology and smile, he caught up to his partner and grabbed him by the arm. "Oi, Bunny!" Kotetsu turned his partner around to face him, but the face that stared at him in shock was not his partners.

It was a homeless old beggar.

Kotetsu's eyes grew wide as Nathan came from behind him. "Kotetsu, what was that all about…" his sentence faded as he looked at the jacket and too the beggar. The old beggar looked at the two in fear but Kotetsu didn't let go, not even as Nathan's phone rang. The flamboyant hero flipped his phone open, "Hello?" he asked, his eyes glued onto the homeless man.

_"Ah, Nathan…we have a problem."_ Kotetsu tuned in on the conversation. "Problem?" Nathan repeated as he listened to Karina's voice, _"We found Barnaby's phone…"_

"And?"

_"It looks like it had been tossed into some bushes."_ Nathan blinked a few times, "And that's a problem?" He looked towards Kotetsu as they both listened in. _"There was blood on it."_ Both hero's widened their eyes and turned their attention to the homeless man wearing Barnaby's jacket.

"Blood...?"

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><p>Hope you enjoyed Chapter 2 =D<p> 


	3. Chapter 3 That Cant Be Right

**Chapter 3**

**That Cant Be Right**

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><p>"Okay. Let's try this again, where did you find this jacket?" Kotetsu asked the homeless man who they came to find out was named Steve. Steve looked at Kotetsu carefully, the old man was a sly bastard and knew how to pull strings it seemed. He had refused to tell them anything until he had a full course meal, some new clothes and a good nap in a nice warm bed. Now Steve was up and Kotetsu was ready to get down to business. Behind him stood the rest of the hero's, however, Antonio was sitting next to his old high school friend incase he needed to be held back. Kotetsu normally had a pretty good temper but very rarely someone pushed a button and could set him off. Rare, but still a chance of it happening with Barnaby being missing, a bloody phone, and now a homeless guy wasting time.<p>

Steve sat there for a moment and picked at his teeth, then finally he shrugged his thin shoulders. "I just found it." He answered without much of a care. "Nothing to it."

Kotetsu sighed and rested his arms on his legs, "No, what I want to know is **where** you found it and **how." **Steve looked at him and tiled his head to the side in thought. "Well," He started as he scratched his fuzzy chin. "I found the coat on the side of the street the other night. No one was around so I just took it. Ya know, old men get cold out at night."

"It's been in the eighties." Karina stated with narrowed eyes. She was in no mood for any games it seemed.

"Well, you know. When it does get cold its nice to have a jacket and that jacket is pretty toasty might I add. So, can I have it back?" Kotetsu raised a brow at the old man like he had gone insane, "No, It belongs to a friend of mine. One that I wonder if you have seen, he's about my height, curly blond hair and wears glasses. Kinda walks around like he has a stick up his ass." Everyone looked at Kotetsu and sighed. It was up to Nathan to save the day. He came around the sofa and held out a picture for the old man to see. It was a simple photo of Barnaby, sadly it was a picture of the man eating some fries.

Kotetsu now looked at Nathan oddly, Fire Emblem shrugged his shoulders innocently. "What? I think it's cute when Handsome eats."

"Right. You do know he would be pretty mad if he knew you had a picture of him like that." Nathan only smirked in response. Steve on the other hand stared at the picture and dug about in his brain for an answer. "Mm, nope. I haven't see him. Honestly, all I cam across was this coat. It was just left out on the side walk during the rain." Nathan seemed to think on the answer for a moment and tapped the photo with one of his perfect finger nails to indicate the man might want to start rethinking his sentence. "You sure about that, dear?"

Steve seemed to reconsider his thoughts as he was certain he could see the flame burning in the eyes of Fire Emblem. Picking at his one good tooth with the tip of his tongue, the only man sighed in defeat. "Okay, so I might of seen the blond the other night. He was giving some guy directions and I guess the fella wasn't so happy about dem directions."

Kotetsu and Nathan looked at one another for a moment, Kotetsu raised a brow slowly as he stared at the old hobo. "What do you mean, not happy about the directions? Did he just tell them to go the wrong way or something?" asked Kotetsu curiously. Surely, Barnaby would tell someone to go the right way. He was a pretty damn good guy and would help others, so what could he have done to cause someone to get upset? The old man shrugged his thin shoulders, "I don't know. But I assume they weren't happy because a guy came up and did something to him. I aint sure what it was but I do know they took him."

This captured everyone's attention. All eyes went on the old man as Keith came forward, "What do you mean took him?"

"Well, dem men in the truck. They took him, threw him in the back of the truck and drove off."

Everyone stood there, staring at the old man in disbelief, thinking who one earth would be stupid enough to take Barnaby. In fact, was this man just telling them that Barnaby was kidnapped? "Surely, Barnaby would of used his power and left them by now. That is, if someone really did take him." Nathan crossed his arms over his chest, resting one hand on the side of his face as he turned to regard the rest of the heros. It was Ivan that spoke the words out loud that everyone was thinking. "Unless something else happened..."

Everyone went silent. Kotetsu adjusted his hat with one hand and looking serious for a change. "Oi, Oji-san, take me to the place you last saw our Bunny."

**[X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X]**

"What are we going to do with him?" Came a voice from the darkness. "Hell if I know." said another in a hushed voice. Barnaby had slowly started to wake up, he couldn't see anything nor could he move any part of his body. In fact, he really couldn't do much of anything at all and his right arm felt funny. All he could really do is lay there on the floor with a scrambled mind. He tried to recall what had happened to him but nothing came to mind. That was down right confusing because he knew he had done something or was going somewhere.

"What do you mean you don't know? Do you realize who we have? Dear God, boss is either going to kill us or congratulate us and I'm not sure which it will be!" Barnaby's green eyes narrowed slightly in the darkness. He still couldn't see and he realized it was due to the fact he did not have his glasses. Everything was blurred shapes and dark colors. He opened his mouth to speak but the only thing that came from his lips was a muffled sound.

"Yeah, I know who it is, it's-" The voice cut off and looked toward the blond figure in the dark corner of the warehouse. "Well, seems our bound friend is awake." the figure said with a lop sided smirk. Neither man moved towards the waking Barnaby that was bound and gagged. They stared at him in silence before finally the older man moved forward. He walked up to the bound Bunny and squatted down to his level. Barnaby who was laying on his side could not see the man but he felt his presence. Turning his head slightly to one side, he narrowed his eyes to try and see the man better but failed.

God, he hated his eye sight right now! The older man tilted his head side to side. All that Barnaby could see was the man had odd hair, it must have had at least three to four colors in it, well at least he thought he could. The world thought it would be great to spin about him for a moment. "Well, good morning there."

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><p>Sorry for such a short chapter. Schools been eating my time up and my writing muse! Stupid school, right as I feel like writing again it does this to me. Anyways, I will do my best you a much longer chapter and update faster when I can! Promise!<p>

Also, thanks for the reviews, I love hearing from everyone! 3


	4. Chapter 4 Not Getting Anywhere

Chapter 4

Not Getting Anywhere

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><p>Barnaby narrowed his eyes slowly, in hopes of being able to see, such an action did nothing to increase his vision. It might of helped if his head could stay focused on what was happening around him. All the blond knew, was that he wasn't at home and the person kneeling before him wasn't friendly. He decided this only a few moments ago when his head was lifted off the ground by his curls and being gagged made it very hard to tell the man that he didn't appreciate the gesture. Even now, his head remained at an uncomfortable level as the man, who he came to find out, was named Harvey. Well, the one currently holding his head in place was named that anyways. The second one seemed to have disappeared at the word of Harvey, telling him to go find the one in charge.<p>

It was now, that Harvey stared down at the bound Barnaby. "You look like an irritated drunk." He mused lightly and shook the blonds head lightly. "So, you are the great Barnaby Brooks Jr. Who would of ever guessed that out everyone in Sternbild we would happen upon you. Hell, you can't be so big and bad if we were able to kidnap you. But now, I gotta wonder. What in the seven hells are we going to do with you? "

The was a question that was going through the blonds head as well. Why would kidnappers take him? Well, at least he knew who was responsible for all the kidnappings. As much as Barnaby was concerned with his own personal safety, he was more worried on why he couldn't think straight, why he was so tired and lastly, why he couldn't activate his powers. As if on cue, Harvey seemed to know what the blond was thinking and thus announced his inner thoughts. "I bet you're wondering why you can't just break out of those binds and beat the shit out of me, hm?" Mused Harvery. "You see, attached to your right arm is an IV. Which just happens to be pouring Morphine into your system. But from the looks you are giving me, I think you've been on the tap a bit too long." Harvey said with a slight frown.

Morphine was a powerful drug and habit forming. It was a drug used to cancel out pain but the side effects where long listed and without being able to think straight or stay focused, Barnaby was unable to use his powers. That disturbed him even in his drugged state of mind, however, knowing now from the looks of Harvey that they might of given him too much unnerved him. Too much Morphine, or of any drug, can kill. The hero closed his eyes and mentally sighed, how in the hell did he even get himself into this mess?

Harvey tilted his head slightly to the right, reaching up he tapped the medical bag and pondered. How much could a NEXT handle? Well, the ones he had kidnapped before seemed to handle the medication well enough and it kept them under control. Well, he wasn't about to take the hero off it either, not from what he had seen on TV…

Wait a minute. Television. "Hey!" Harvey called out, "Tell Boss I got an idea that he will love! We are gonna be stars!" Turning his attention back towards the hero, he dropped the blonds head back to the cold ground and gave him a quick pat on the face. "And possible as rich as we ever dreamed."

**[X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X**]

They had combed the street and the side streets for the past five hours now and not a damn thing had turned up. Not even a single hair of his los partner, Kotetsu was really starting to worry now. The older man stood on the curb with his hand resting on his chin in thought, over his right shoulder was Barnaby's Jacket. Behind him he could hear the others coming around behind him. What could he tell them? That he found nothing, not even a single lead to their missing Bunny? Hell, what was he going to tell Agnes? Ah fuck, she was going to eat him alive! She was going to rant about the ratings going down, tell him it was all his fault that Barnaby left and possibly had been kidnapped! Well, as much as he hated to admit it, she was partly right. It was his fault that Barnaby left.

But he couldn't tell his partner that he was losing his powers. What would he do? Surely, the blond would just tell him to hit the high roads or even look down upon him. But Barnaby was special to Kotetsu, he was his partner in more then one way. Looking down at the road, he brought a hand and rubbed his aching eyes. "Bunny." He muttered to himself. "Why didn't you just come back for your keys and take your car?" he asked to the air, knowing he would not get a reply. "I couldn't of made you that mad, could I?"

Behind him, came Nathan. Fire Emblem stared at his friend and sighed softly, the others soon followed. Nathan looked to each of the heros who only shook their heads. It seems none of them found a trace either and they had let Steve go at last. There was no point in asking the man anymore questions or keeping him any longer. But now as Nathan saw how Kotetsu stood on that curb made him want to rethink the idea of letting the old man go and questioning him until he screamed.

Chewing on his soft lips he took a step forward to speak, however Antonio beat him to the punch. The much older Hero came up to stand beside his best friend. "We couldn't find anything." He spoke softly to Wild Tiger. His brown eyes looking towards the smaller man, "And I take it you didn't either." Kotetsu in reply shook his head softly, "Not a thing. I can't even find any tire markings that might suggest the route they might of taken. It's like they just disappeared completely. Just like Tomoe."

Rock Bison stared at his friend with wide eyes that soon turned pained. So, Kotetsu was thinking about Tomoe and possibly comparing the situation with Barnaby to the one in the past. At one point, Tomoe had been kidnapped back when they where in high school, she had gone missing without a trace but Kotetsu was able to figure everything out and save her life before it was too late. But unlike that time, there was nothing to pick up on, no clues, not a single person stood out among the rest that would remove Barnaby from Kotetsu's life.

"Kotetsu, I'm sure he is alright, he can take care of himself." Unlike Tomoe back then. "I'm sure whatever is going on, he will be back with us soon and if not…you know we are all here for you. We will help get him back." Seeing that Kotetsu mood was darkening, Antonio nudged him carefully. "Besides, I'm sure those kidnappers will show up again and when we capture them, we can beat the information out of them."

And as if God had a sense of humor, the call bracelets went off just then. Startled by such a thing, Kotetsu looked down at it and then back to Antonio and the others. The city was needing them and as much as he hated to, he had to hold off on the search for his partner. As the others turned to get back to HQ, Kotetsu gave the empty road one more look before leaving as well, "We'll find you."

**[X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X]**

"And that's my idea!" Harvey finished with a bright smile as he leaned forward on the broken desk that was located in a rundown room, of a rundown warehouse. "What do you think?" He asked his boss who sat back in the shadows, smoking a cigar in deep concentration. "Heh, I love it. Take yourself and four others out to the television station and send out the message." Mused the man in the shadows with a twisted grin.

"What do you want us to do with Brooks?" Asked Harvey. "We could take him with us-"

"Too risky. Lave him here, with me. Though, do make him look nice for the camera, take a picture and show that. Heh, I can't wait to see the look on their faces. All of Sternbild is going to freak and the chaos will be orgasmic." Harvey seemed to smile at his Bosses words. With a quick bow, he turned and left the room quickly. He had men to pick out, a van to steal and a message to send to the city.

Who would of guessed that the kidnapping business would turn out to be pretty damn exciting! He could just see the dollar bills in his eyes and his boss finally getting what he wanted. The death of a few particular NEXT's.

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><p>Hey everyone, sorry it took so long to update and I know all of you wanted me to update asap XD I tired. Though I will apologize, it isn't as along as a chapter as I promised or wanted but it will have to do for now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for all of your support thus far! Btw, I am always willing to take suggestions on the story and what you might like to see or happen. Just cause I find it interesting in what others think and suggest and who knows, it might end up in here. Never know!<p> 


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